Downgraded by airline after booking flight- compensation?

impartialobserv

Hi all,

Apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong section - it concerns a downgrade, rather than a delay.


I fly to Australia regularly (2-3 times a year) and set up a couple of flight alerts for relevant time periods to keep an eye on prices.

Yesterday I received an alert to say that the cost of a business class ticket on Singapore Air had fallen by £300 for one of my nominated travel periods.

I checked a couple of websites, both offered a similar deal, and during the booking process, I was then offered a first class return leg for an extra £150 (approx). Astonished by my (apparent) good fortune, I went ahead and booked for myself & one of my children.

The travel agent sent me a confirmation email, outlining travel details and confirming Business Class for outbound and First return flights.

However, when I logged on to Kris Air (Singapore frequent flyer website) a little later, I noted that I was booked premium economy for the return leg.

Called travel agent - they said they would investigate. Called SA - they said it was an issue for TA to sort.

Later, TA called me to explain that SA had made an electronic error and had offered the first tickets by mistake. Other TA's were offering the same price at the same time, so this does ring true.

TA has offered to refund my ticket in full, but I'm not sure what to do. The tickets I have are still a reasonable proposition for the price - but they aren't what I paid for. I am also annoyed about the inconvenience and time wasted sending emails/on the phone yesterday trying to sort this out when I had a lot of other things to do.

I've seen that passengers routed through the EU are entitled to compensation of up to 75% if downgraded, but does this only apply after the flight has taken place?

Any help or advice very welcome!

Tyzap

It does look like some sort of mistake by the airline.

See here, and check some of the links too.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals/1906355-premium-economy-sq-fares-us-southeast-asia-fall-1900-r-t.html

If you had a confirmed booking showing First on the itinerary it would probably be more in your favour.

impartialobserv

Seems to be some precedent here? Something similar happened in 2014..

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/sia-will-honour-erroneous-sale-of-business-class-tickets-at-economy-class-fares-in

Tyzap

They seem to have honoured their mistake on that occasion so you would expect them to do the same again.

Worth a try.

jpsartre

Doesn't sound like a downgrade to me, maybe it was an issue with the wrong fare class being loaded or (more likely) the agent's interface displaying them incorrectly. Doubt there was ever actually a business/first class ticket issued.